Apple's 16-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro boasts the longest-lasting battery of any other laptop

MacBook Pro 16-inch (2023) on wooden desk with green background
(Image credit: Future)

Apple's 2023 16-inch MacBook Pro is now the laptop with the longest-lasting battery, beating out competition from Asus, Dell, and Apple itself.

Apple promised a lot when it announced the new M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBook Pros, and while there was little surprise that it delivered in terms of processing power, it's always unclear how battery life claims will pan out. Now, we know.

Our own 16-inch MacBook Pro tests showed that buyers could expect almost 19 hours out of a single charge, depending on workflow. Now, a new report confirms what we thought — this is the best MacBook for anyone who spends any real time on the road and away from a charger.

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While we tested the 16-inch MacBook Pro ourselves, our friends at Tom's Guide have been able to try a multitude of Windows-based laptops to see just how Apple's new wares stack up. In terms of battery life, it wasn't a fair fight — Apple came out on top. And by some margin.

Tom's Guide says that Apple sent it a fully-loaded MacBook Pro. That means it had an M2 Max with 96GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD installed, so it was understandably no slouch. But how would it stack up to the competition regarding battery life?

The report shows that the machine ran on a full charge for 18 hours and 56 minutes, beating out the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro by 36 minutes. The first non-Apple machine on the list of battery-life monsters was the Dell Latitude 9510. It managed an impressive but not-impressive-enough 18 hours and 17 minutes.

After that, there were plenty of other Windows-based laptops and a smattering of M1 and M2 Macs. But nothing came close to that 16-inch beast.

Still, all of that comes at a price. As configured, that MacBook Pro costs a cool $5,299. You do get to pick your color, at least.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.